The demand for professional cleaners has been on the rise in recent years, and the rapidly expanding market creates lucrative business opportunities for those looking to enter the cleaning industry.
If you have the cleaning skills and passion for the service and enough people need cleaning work done in your area, becoming a part of a cleaning franchise can provide a strong foundation from which you can deliver your cleaning expertise to the community. Read on to learn more about franchising, its benefits and why Total Clean could be a good fit for you.
What is a Cleaning Franchise?
A cleaning franchise allows you to start a cleaning business under the larger brand of an established company. Becoming a franchisee will give you access to the company’s brand and resources, and you will be able to use their business model as a significant stepping stone to growing your own business.
Types of Cleaning Franchise Companies
There is a wide range of cleaning franchises in the UK that you can get involved in depending on your interests. Some of these franchises focus on a specific cleaning service, such as carpet cleaning or window cleaning, while others provide more generalised services, such as:
- Maid services
- Domestic cleaning
- Commercial cleaning
- Housekeeping
Total Clean is a commercial cleaning franchise working in a range of industries and providing a diverse variety of services. Joining our franchise will allow you to develop your cleaning prowess to service a range of businesses. Our diversity means that any cleaning franchisee will get something out of our partnership, whether you provide general cleaning or specialise in one area.
How a Cleaning Company Franchise Works
When joining a franchise, you will pay an initial fee plus recurring royalties to purchase the rights to run the business and retain the use of the company’s brand, image and products.
You split the profits generated from your income with the franchisor and in return, you get access to a wide range of training and services designed to help you get up to speed with managing your business so that you can become a valuable and reputable part of the franchise.
At the end of your contract with the franchisor, there will be an option to renew. This will enable you to continue to benefit from the company services and resources, strengthening your own services and the partnerships and relationships you’ve built with your clients.
Costs and Finances of a Cleaning Franchise Business
Starting your own cleaning business from scratch can be an expensive and costly endeavour. Purchasing all the resources, equipment and supplies along with vehicles, building space and marketing can stack up and make those early starting days a struggle.
By investing in a cleaning franchise, you can eliminate a large amount of those starting costs as it will already be provided for you, allowing you to focus your efforts on the work that needs doing without any of the stress.
A Low-Risk Investment
As the franchisor will already be a pre-existing business with a wide range of clients and proven success, investing will be an easy choice as you will be able to have confidence that you are entering into a partnership that has a high guarantee of success.
You won’t have to muddle through the common trials and pitfalls that come with trying to set up a new business, and you will be able to hit the ground running, safe with the knowledge that your business will soon see success and profit rolling in.
Franchise Branding
The image and product branding associated with a cleaning company will already be established, tried and tested by the time you invest in the franchise. You will have full access to the benefits of the branding without needing to put in the money to build your image yourself.
This is especially important when it comes to kitting out your company with all the necessary cleaning supplies and equipment needed to get started on providing high-quality cleaning work. These vital resources will already be provided for you in your contract with the business.
Marketing Costs
A big part of franchise branding is the marketing costs associated with getting your image out into the world to draw in customers. Clients will already be familiar with the franchise’s image and its services, saving you money on marketing the brand yourself.
Pre-Established Cleaning Business
As we mentioned above, the brand of the cleaning business you’re investing in will already be making significant waves in the industry with a proven business model, and you can become a franchisee without worrying about how to shape your business to draw in customers.
Customers will already know what to expect from the business, which will then extend to your services as you will be able to capitalise on the trust and reliability fostered by the parent franchisor to make your business as appealing as possible.
Pre-Existing Clients for Your Cleaning Company
Wherever you set your company up, the franchisor will be able to provide you with a pool of clients to help get your business up and running, allowing you to save time you’d have otherwise spent acquiring customers on your own.
There may be some pressure associated with the high expectations customers will have of you due to your association with the business, but the franchisor will always have people on hand to help support you and guide you through the learning curve.
Easy Access Into the Industry
With any industry, the world of commercial cleaning can be hard to break into if you’re a beginner just starting out. Clients and customers will already have their own cleaning services they work with and trust and it can seem like a daunting task to compete against the big names that have accrued more experience.
By becoming part of a cleaning franchise, you will have instant access to the industry, gaining access to knowledge and training that will help you to learn what makes a cleaning business successful and how you can apply that knowledge to your own business to grow and flourish.
You never know – one day, you may feel you have grown all you can under your franchisor and be ready to break out on your own as an independent cleaning company.
Training and Support
With that access into the industry awarded to you by a franchisor comes access to a wide variety of training resources and support from experts and professionals, whether you need additional help in management, admin, or sales training.
Professional Cleaning Business Training
The main focus of the cleaning franchisor will be on helping you strengthen the foundations of your business with insider knowledge and guidelines that have been successful for the franchisor, allowing you to use that template to grow your own business.
That kind of inside knowledge may not be available to independent companies starting out, giving you a vital boost in the cleaning industry that you can, in turn, use to support and bolster the image of the franchisor.
It is expected that you already have some knowledge and expertise in providing cleaning services, so the business training will focus on the more technical behind-the-scenes aspects of management and sales.
Admin Support
In addition to giving you access to all the necessary resources for running a business at a high professional level, we will also help to support you through your administrative and financial needs.
The goal of all of our training services is to help you focus on delivering top quality cleaning work while you learn the ropes so that your attention isn’t divided and you can do the job you love. We will give you training on managing your accounts and sorting out your income and revenue till you become a well-oiled machine.
Running Your Cleaning Service Franchise Independently
After you’ve got the hang of the business management side of your new cleaning franchise, we will be able to take a step back and let you have more freedom and independence in the running of your business.
Our support will still be on hand for any troubles you may encounter but by and large, you will have the opportunity to be your own boss and use our franchise brand to grow and develop on your own.
Building Client Relationships
One of the most important things you can do with your cleaning franchise is build and maintain strong partnerships with the clients we provide in your area.
Through fostering these connections with the community you clean for, you will be able to gain more trust and reputability independent of the larger franchise you’re a part of while also familiarising yourself more intimately with the ins and outs of the clients’ businesses.
Work-Life Balance
As the owner and manager of the cleaning franchise, you will be able to maintain more freedom in your workload as the franchisor will have taken off some of the stress of the constant management through their support initiative.
You will also have more flexibility when you get settled to choose your own customers and working hours. This will help to foster a positive working atmosphere for you and the employees in your business. Positivity will improve your work ethic, helping you to perform at your best and provide services worthy of the franchise name.
Growth Opportunities for Your Cleaning Business
With an increase in freedom and independence comes more opportunities to expand and develop your business under the guiding hand of the franchisor. This can include becoming profitable enough to hire more employees, offer more services to customers and even expand your client base.
We can help you to expand your client base by giving you some more clients in addition to your existing ones or you can take the initiative to find new customers yourself and expand your business in a direction more tailored to your personal business goals and preferences.
Profit and Demand in the Cleaning Industry
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned the rising demand for cleaners in today’s society. This demand can lead to a significant increase in profits, and as a part of a cleaning franchise, your business will be able to reap the full rewards of these profits through the connections and knowledge that the franchisor brings to the table.
Security in Your Franchise Success
As part of the low-risk investment benefits that come with being a part of a franchise, you can also feel secure in the promise of your business’ success.
We are here to help you grow financially, guaranteeing an agreed amount of monthly turnover that ensures you always get the best turnover and profit for your business according to the size of the business plan you buy from us.
With a guaranteed set income for your business, you will be able to plan your business goals accordingly and grow at a controlled pace that suits your needs.
Stable Income for Your Business
As part of a cleaning franchise that offers a high level of security for your investment and profit, you will be able to benefit from a stable income year-round that can keep your business growing in the right direction.
It helps greatly that the cleaning industry has an evergreen demand. People will always need cleaning services to keep their homes and businesses hygienic and appealing, generating a steady source of revenue that a cleaning franchise can supplement through cultivated client selection that ensures your services are always going where they’re needed most.
Disadvantages of Investing in a Cleaning Franchise
We understand that becoming a part of a cleaning franchise isn’t for everyone. From the outset, it can be hard to find a company that suits the ideals and goals you have in mind for your own business, and you can lose a lot of the creative control over the direction your business runs in due to the rules, licensing and regulations set in place by the franchisor.
There can also be some financial downsides. The initial cost of purchasing a franchise can be overly expensive for new businesses starting out and looking to get a foothold in the industry and the shared profits from turnover mean you may not be seeing the success pace you wanted for your business.
The contracts you sign with the cleaning franchise are also not permanent. Due to unforeseen circumstances within finances or the industry, you may find yourself let go as a business, or the franchisor itself may go out of business, leaving you and your business without the support pillar it had been relying on.
Independent vs Franchise Cleaning Business
The primary choice you’ll have to make is whether you want to make it as an independent cleaning business or become a part of a franchise.
The factors you will have to consider when making your choice include:
- How much creative control you want.
- What your goals and visions are and whether they fit into a pre-existing company’s mould.
- Whether you already have experience in running and managing a business
- Whether you already have the marketing skills to get your company’s brand seen and draw in customers.
There are pros and cons to each choice, and either option can help your business to grow.
We aim for our cleaning franchise opportunities to help new businesses discover their potential within the industry, allowing you to grow with a long-term return on investment that guarantees a higher level of security when it comes to pursuing your dreams.
You can find out more information about our cleaning franchise opportunities by reading more about the pros and cons of investing in an independent or franchising business and by checking out our guide on how cleaning franchises work.
For more information or to set up a meeting to discuss franchising opportunities, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
